Despite everyman image, Beto O’Rourke twice as wealthy as Ted Cruz

WT: AUSTIN, Texas — With an unassuming air and a black Toyota Tundra he says was “the first new vehicle I’ve ever purchased,” Beto O’Rourke has campaigned thousands of miles across Texas and risen to national prominence on a workaday image that aligns with his politics, but not his personal finances.

The son of a onetime Republican county judge and a longtime furniture store owner, the Democratic congressman from El Paso married into the family of one of his hometown’s most prominent developers and has assembled real estate investments worth millions.

Congress is rife with rich people, but O’Rourke had a 2015 net worth of about $9 million, ranking 51st out of 435 House members, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. That’s more-than double the $3.8 million worth of his Republican opponent, Sen. Ted Cruz, who ranked 41st of 100 senators. O’Rourke and his family live in a hilltop, Hacienda-style, 4,700 square-foot home in El Paso, while Cruz, his wife and daughters have a well-appointed condo in an elegant corner of Houston. read more